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J. PEA. Expression-Indioator for Reed Organs. No. 235,420. L Patented Dec. 14,1880,

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Expression Indicator for Reed Or 8 QM u H II. m. m

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J. PEA.

Expression Indicator-for Reed Or gans. PatentedDec. 14,1880.

UNITED STATES PATENT Erica.

JOHN FEA, OF AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK.

EXPRESSION-INDICATOR FOR REED-ORGANS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 235,420, dated December 14, 1880.

Application filed July 22, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN FEA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Amsterdam village, in the county of Montgomery and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Expression-Indicators for Reed-Organs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of an ordinary organ having myinvention attached, wherein the dial a, containing the dynamic signs and characters, and also the index-hands f and f, is shown located centrally on the name-board N. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the graduated dial a, index-hands f f in their normal position, and dynamic signs, &c. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on the line av 00 in Fig. 1, showing all the working parts of an ordinary organ with myinvention attached, wherein a is the dial, ff the index-hands, c and e the shafts, g and h the toothed wheels, t and "i the pivoted levers having teeth i on each engaging the wheels g and h, the connection 1 and lever attached to the back board, D, also the connection m, connectinglever iwith the swelldoor J. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the dial a, levers v and i, gear-wheels g and h, index-hands f and f, and shafts e and c. Fig. 5 is rear elevation of an ordinary organ containing my invention, in which 0 isa bracket to form bearings for the pivoted levers t and 11, and shafts e and 6, connection I, and lever k, attached to the back board, I), connection on connecting the lever t with the swell-door J, also the spring 1) for closing the door J. Fig.6 is a plan of the dial-ease, gears g and h, pivoted levers t and 5, connections Z and m, lever is, bed-piece O, and swell-door J. Fig. 7 is a modification of my invention, showing the dynamic signs and characters reduced to a straight line in place of a circle, wherein f and f are the hands secured to movable pieces that are caused to travel lengthwise of the oblong dynamic signplate by proper and suitable connections with the pivoted levers i and 1'.

(Model) My invention relates to improvements in guiding the performer in the proper use of the pump-pedals and swell-levers for the purpose of bringing into immediate control any of the qualities or degrees of increase or decrease of musical sounds while being produced, and also to maintain any one or more sounds accurately for a definite time as read from the sheet-music.

In all reed-organs having sound-producing devices and keys to operate them a bellows is used for producing a current of air and channels for conducting the currents to or from the tone-producers.

It is a well-known fact that a slight current of air passing through a reed causes it to vibrate softly, and as the current is increased the vibrations are given a greater intensity.

In addition to the bellows, there are qualifying-swells or shade-doors placed over or in front of the tone-producers, for the purpose of increasing or subduing the tone. \Vhen the doors are closed the tones or sounds are subdued. When the doors are open the tones or sounds are increased.

In pipe-organs the shading of tones is done by means of qualifying shade or swell-doors. Heretofore persons who have learned to play or to produce tones from the above-named instruments had to rely solely on the ear to discriminate between the power or force of tones produced. Some persons are so constituted that their ears are defective as far as the lights and shades of expression are concerned in musical tones, and they are unable to produce them correctly; also, they do not know how to produce the lights and shades accurately at the proper time. Consequently, this mostimportant branch of musical science has been neglected. Again, no one who cannot himself produce a shaded tone, or one with expression, will be able or competent to teach a pnpil to do so, since heretofore this department of music has been taught simply by example. Other things being equal, lights and shades or musical expression is all done mechanically and depends upon the proper manipulations of the pedals and swells of musical instruments of this character. In the proper management of these different parts lies the chief excellence, the chief art of execution. When the performer has learned to graduate the pressure the main source of musical expression has been attained.

Someperformers exert themselves more than is necessary in operating the pump-pedals, no doubt thinking it necessary that the bellows should be used to their fullest capacity to produce the tones. Others do not operate the pump-pedals sufficiently to produce a steady current of air through the reeds. With beginners the effort to fill the bellows ofa reed-organ produces a wheezy and monotonous stress to the tone, simply for want of knowing how to graduate the pressure. With many performers it has heretofore been difficult to produce anythin gapproachin g precise expression in executing music on reed-organs.

The object of my invention is to automati cally indicate the power of tones produced, and also guidethe performer to graduate the pressure, so that the tones will be rendered or delivered with proper expression, whereby any performer will be enabled to interpret and execute music correctly.

Referring to the several drawings, Figures 3 and 4 are sectional elevations on the line 0000 in Fig. 1.

Like letters and figures indicate like parts in each figure.

A is the ordinary casing of an organ. B is the stationary middle-board of the bellows. 0 indicates the pump or exhauster, and c the valves. D indicates the receiver or exhaustchamber. E is the bellows-throat. F is the air or valve chamber, and F is the tray or foundation board for the action of the instrument to rest upon. Gris the reed-valve. H is the sound-board. H is the reed-bed, and H the reed or tone-producer. I indicates the keys, and l the valve-rod. J J are the swellboards. K is the knee swell-lever for operating the swell-board through proper connections with the swell-board. L is the pumppedals, having connected thereto the pedalstraps L, the reverse movement of the pump beingaccom plished by the action of the springs L. M is the springs'that restore the back board, D, to its normal position. N is the stop or name-board, and O is the bed-piece forsupporting the stop or name-board N.

I deem it proper here to remark that all these parts just above referred to are old and well understood by those skilled in the art.

Having described in detail the most essential parts of an organ, 1 will now proceed to described my invention.

I secure centrally upon the face of the stop or name-board N of an organ a dial-case, a, (see Fig. 1,) containing within its circumference a graduated dial, b. (See Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.) This dial contains all the dynamic signs used in expressing the degrees of power of musical sounds, said signs being printed, engraved, or otherwise arranged upon its face.

Upon the bed-piece O, I firmly secure, substantially as shown, a compound bracket, 0. (See Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6.)

A series of holes passes through a portion pass through without causing unnecessary friction.

f designates an index-hand upon the hollow shaft 6. A smaller shaft, 6, passes through thehollow shaft 6, and is provided with an index-hand, f, care being taken that the shaft 0 may revolve freely within the hollow shaft 6.

The pivoted levers i and z" are provided with teeth 2', and are pivoted upon a portion of the bracket 0, so as to engage with the toothed wheels g and 70, whereby a vibration of the levers will cause a rotation of the toothed wheels and shafts, and consequently a movement of the index-hands over the dial-face, the extent of the movement ofeitherindex-hand being proportionate to the extent to which the levers engaging with the gear-wheel of its shaft are vibrated.

The operation of my invention is as follows The pumps 0, when operated by the pedals L, cause an exhaustion of air in the elastic receiver or chamber D, which consquently causes the back board, D, to be drawn inward in proportion to the quantity of air exhausted from the receiver to the power of the tone desired to be produced. By this movement of the back board, D, the upper portion of the lever 76, which is attachedto the back board, D, (see Figs. 3, 5, and 6,) is moved outward, thereby vibrating the pivoted lever 1' through the connection I, (see Fig. 3,) which vibration causes, through the medium of the teeth 6 on said lever engaging with gearwheel h on shaft 6, to revolve the said shaft 6 and move the index-hand f over the face of the graduated dial, and the reverse movement is performed by the power of the springs M in restoring the back board, D, to its normal position, the spring M being so constructed that the pressure will be light when the exhaust commences, and gradually heavier as the back board, D, is drawn inward.

When the swell-door J is closed by the spring 19 (see Figs. 3 and 4) it is in itsnormalposition. By moving the knee-lever K to the right the swell-door is opened in proportion to the extent of the movement of said lever K through the medium of the connections q, 0, and a. (See Figs. 1, 3, and 5.)

If it is desired to produce a soft, subdued effect, operate the pump-pedals with a gentle pressure. In the meantime the index-hand f will indicate on the graduated dial the strength or power of the tones produced.

To in dicatea piano effect operate the pumppedals a little quicker than for 1919 until the pointer f will indicate or point to the character 1) on the graduated dial.

To indicate a medium degree of power, accelerate the pump-pedals until the index-hand f points to the character m. A more rapid motion of the pump-pedals will produce the full power of the air-current, and the indexhand will point to the characters ff.

If it is desired to have a crescendo, press the knee swell-lever to the right, which will cause the index-hand f to travel over theface of the dial until the character ores. has been arrived at, thereby indicating any tones then produced to be crescendo. A return of the indeX-handf will indicate a diminuendo.

To maintain a medium organ tone, operate the pump-pedals so that the index -handf will point to the character at on the graduated dial, and simultaneously press the knee swelllever K, so that index-hand f points to the character at also. Now, if any of the keys I be pressed down, amedium organ tone will be produced and indicated. If both hands point to the character ff, a very loud organ tone will be indicated, and so of any character on the dial. If a pressure tone is desired, operate the pump-pedals rapidly and press the swell-levers gradually to the right, so that both index-hands fandf will move over the dial simultaneously until the divergence or both ends of the sign have been reached, then a simultaneous return of theindeX-hands will indicate a gradual diminuendo, and a combination of both, as indicated, will result in producing a swell. An explosive tone is produced in the same manner, only accelerated and ceased suddenly when both pointers arrive at the characters fz.

The index-hands ff, although shown together in the same dial-case, are operated independently of each other.

It is evident that the characters indicating the dynamic shades of tones may be placed upon an oblong index-plate provided with movable gibs carrying index-hands f f, substantially as shown in Fig. 7, without changing the. nature of my invention.

An oblong graduated index-plate may be used in combination with the same mechanism, with the addition of a lever and carrying-arm for moving the index-hands in a straight line over the face of the oblong index-plate.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a reed'organ or like musical instrument, of a graduated dial provided with dynamic signs, characters, and figures, index-hands or pointers, and mechanism for actuating the hands over the face of the dial, connected with and adapted to be operated by the wind-pressure-regulating devices ot' the organ, thereby indicating the expression of the musical instrument upon the dial, to guide the performer in properly regulating the movements of the pump-pedals and swell-levers, so that any of the degrees of increase or decrease of power may be produced, substantially as specified.

2. A reed-organ or like musical instrument, having attached thereto a graduated dial, provided with dynamic signs, characters, and figures, in combination with index hands adapted to be operated by the contraction and expansion of the bellows or air-receiver, and opening and closing movements of qualifying shade or swell doors, for the purpose of indicating upon the graduated dial the degrees of power and expression while the organ is being operated, substantially as specified and set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN FEA.

YVitnesses:

W. DAVIDSON J owns, D. M. OGDEN. 

